Greenfield council opens review of citywide speed limits, asks staff for comprehensive study

Scott, a city staff member, opened discussion of item 3B by reminding councilors that a 2023 speed study and a corrected ordinance map are in the packet. "We did do a speed study, in 2023," Scott said, and presented a colored map that staff updated to show correct speed classifications.

Council member Wald told the council he had received resident requests to lower speed limits on short no-outlet roads and asked staff to consider policy language to lower limits on those streets. "Hidden Lane sent us an email where every resident signed a request to lower their no outlet speed limit down from 30," Wald said. Council member Brunswick cautioned about enforceability and legal risk: "If we set a speed limit artificially low, it could potentially be an unenforceable speed limit and could jeopardize our authority to regulate speed limits within the city," he said, urging review by the engineer and city attorney. Several councilors recommended pairing the speed-limit review with a street-classification and weight-restriction review (citing Medina’s simple destination-based weight-limit approach) and asked staff to bring back findings with input from the sheriff’s office, the city engineer and the attorney. No ordinance change or vote occurred at the work session.